Cards, Gyorko beat Giants to spoil Cueto’s return
SAN FRANCISCO — Johnny Cueto and Orlando Cepeda made long-awaited returns to AT&T Park Thursday night, but the San Francisco Giants pitcher didn’t give the recovering Giants legend and Hall of Famer much to cheer for.
Cueto, in his first major league start since April 28 after coming off the 60day disabled list (elbow strain), allowed five runs, 10 hits and two home runs to the St. Louis Cardinals while throwing 76 pitches in five innings of work. He loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, and his night got worse from there. The Cardinals (45-41) led 5-0 after five innings after tagging Cueto in the first two, and cruised to an 11-2 win over the Giants (45-44). Cueto’s counterpart, Cardinals right-hander Luke Weaver, didn’t allow a base runner in the first five frames.
Cueto entered the game with a 3-0 record and 0.84 earned run average, a mark that led all major league pitchers at the time he hit the disabled list. He started the season as one of baseball’s most impressive arms before fearing Tommy John surgery, which wasn’t needed in the end, but failed to pick up where he left off on Thursday night.
After allowing a leadoff walk and back-to-back singles to start the game, Cueto induced an RBI groundout to himself off the bat of cleanup hitter Marcell Ozuna. The next batter, Jedd Gyorko, blasted a 3-0 pitch over the right field wall to spoil Cueto’s triumphant return before it even got underway. A Matt Carpenter solo shot to center field in the second inning punctuated the damage, which was already too much for the hitting-starved Giants to overcome.
By the time Alen Hanson’s two-run shot sailed into the right-field stands in the sixth inning, the Giants already trailed 9-0. Thursday’s debacle came after a three-game sweep at the hands of the Rockies in which San Francisco only scored three total runs. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before the game he wouldn’t have showed up in Colorado if he knew his team would only score three times in the series.
Thursday’s effort wasn’t much better, especially from Cueto and his fellow pitchers. Maybe the hosts could’ve used Cepeda, who made his first visit to AT&T Park since suffering a stroke and severe head injuries in February outside his gym in Fairfield.
The 80-year-old Hall of Famer said he is doing well, and told a small group of reporters that returning to AT&T Park “feels like coming home.”
“I think he’s the pillar of our family,” said Ali Cepeda, Orlando’s son. “... Just to have him here, being able to walk with a cane, it’s huge improvement.”